Since the beginning of October 2018, many Congolese nationals have returned, voluntarily [1] or been expelled, from the Republic of Angola after the expiration of a reprieve granted to irregular migrants to leave the territory of that country. During the period from 1 to 29 October 2018, at least 347,100 Congolese nationals arrived in the Republic of Angola according to the Congolese authorities. Many testimonies have mentioned various human rights violations suffered by the latter during their return (or expulsion) and in the DRC.
Among these nationals, several children were separated from their parents and were victims of several abuses and violence during the displacement. In total, more than 600 unaccompanied and separated children (ENAS/ES) were identified by protection agencies including SAPI and their documentation is underway in the city of Kamako in Kasai province and in the Luiza health zone in Kasai Central province.
The organization save the people international has been intervening in the crisis in Kasai since 2016 and provides a package in the holistic care of unaccompanied children as well as children affected by the militia (ESM). Among these minimum services provided for the Pec of children, we had psychosocial care, the search and family reunification of children, support for birth registration for children out of time, medical care and referral, school and socio-economic reintegration and post-reunification monitoring.
UNICEF is currently providing financial support to SAVE THE PEOPLE–SAPI for the implementation of an IDTR project for 600 children already identified by social workers from the NGO SAPI and its partners in the two provinces (Kasai and Kasai Central) for short-term interventions in the context of child protection in emergency situations for the crisis of returnees from Angola.
[1] The term voluntary does not imply a deliberate choice of foreigners who leave Angolan soil of their own free will, but refers to people who, in spite of themselves, preventively leave Angolan soil, without any resistance to expulsion.
